For me: the core mechanics that make Biowares games stand out from the crowd, is the storytelling, characters and choices that makes me think. Bioware have been the go to place for me, because I find such things interesting in the games I play, and you at Bioware have simply been by far the best at this. But not anymore...
Bioware, you've been beaten at your own game! By Telltale Games: The Walking Dead.
Sure. The Walking Dead only have pretty much one ending. But what is even more interesting than lots of different ending cinematics, is how the journey till the end will feel very different due to how you behave as a character while you play. The choices you make and the things you say (or keep hidden), will decide how your companions feels about you.
In The Walking Dead the companions will remember what you say and do, and they will bring it up. Either for good or for worse. How you treat the companions, will not just be transferred to some renegade/paragon or rivalry/friendship bar. No, these decissions will have an impact on many conversations and how different things will play out. From this emerges a whole new level of belieavability to the characters. They feel that more real, because they remember what you say and do. They remember what you make them do, and the things they do will transform their personality.
I will use an example from the recently released Mass Effect 3: Omega DLC, to show how Bioware could have done something similar, so stop reading if you don't want to be spoiled.
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In the Omega DLC It is shown that Nyreen is scared of these new monster reapers. At one point Aria decides to give her some advice. This could have been done by Shepard instead:
Advice A) "Man up Nyreen and get in there! Don't be a chicken or you will regret it!"
Advice
"Don't worry about it. Just stay back and out of the way. I can handle these monsters"Result of advice A) the end she has in the DLC already.
Result of advice
Nyreen is now unable to fight these monsters. She is so scared she is practically fleeing during gameplay when these new monsters show up. This would also result in her not dieing later on, because she would simply choke up and hide, while the monsters kills the people in front of Afterlife. She survives. But at what price? She is now devastated and willingly succumbs to Aria's rule.Advice A and B both results in the same ending - Aria having no competition for the rule of Omega. Choosing who is the new ruler of Omega could be interesting. Another interesting thing is to have an impact on characters. Did Shepards advice make a martyr or a traumatized coward out of Nyreen? Of course, this is just one (extreme) example of how you could give the player an impact on the companions story.
TL;DR
Telltale Games have given player choice a more interesting impact by focusing more on how the characters you interact with feels about you, and how you shape them, rather than where the game leaves off. My best advice for Bioware. Play The Walking Dead, and be inspired.
Retour en haut
.. reinforces it as a business practice which means we'll only see more of it in future games .. possibly (though not assuredly) at the expense of single player experiences.
